Chapter 49
The old guardian’s massive claws scraped against stone as it circled them like a predator sizing up its prey. Its burning red eyes locked onto Elara, and she felt the triplets move closer, making a protective wall around her. “Stay together!” Kael shouted. “If we separate, it wins!” The creature lunged forward with impossible speed.
Ronan shifted mid-air, his wolf form colliding with the guardian in a clash of fangs and anger. They rolled across the ground, growling and snapping. “Ronan!” Elara screamed as the guardian’s claws raked across his side, drawing blood. Darian and Kael shifted quickly, leaping to help their brother. The three wolves struck from different angles, but the guardian was too strong, too fast. With one massive hand, it sent all three brothers flying. “This isn’t working,” Elder Morrison called out. “The ties are still too new. You need to fight as one unit, not three different wolves!” “How?” Elara ordered, helping Kael to his feet as he shifted back to human form. “Touch them. Channel the link. Make them parts of yourself!” Elara pressed her hands against Kael and Ronan’s shoulders while Darian grabbed her hand. Immediately, she felt their strength flow into her, and hers into them. Their thoughts fused. Their moves synchronized. When the guardian charged again, they moved as one person with four bodies. Kael feinted left while Ronan struck from the right. Darian circled behind.
Elara felt every muscle, every beating, every breath they took. The guardian stumbled, confused by their perfect synchronization. “Yes!” Elder Morrison cheered. “That’s it! The true bond!” But his joy was cut short by slow clapping from the edge of the clearing. “Very impressive,” came a familiar voice. “Too bad it won’t save you.” Everyone turned to see Beta James stepping out from behind a tree, no longer hiding his cruel smile. Behind him walked Celeste, Tobias, and a dozen rogues. “Dad?” Celeste looked shocked. “What are you doing here? The plan was to wait until—” “The plan changed, daughter.” James’s voice was cold. “When I saw they might actually survive the guardian, I decided to speed things up.” “You’re working with them?” Luna Evelyn gasped. “Working with them? I’m leading them.” James pulled out a silver knife that gleamed in the moonlight. “Did you really think your little bonding rite would go uninterrupted? I’ve been planning this for months.” Alpha Marcus stepped forward, his face twisted with rage. “You swore an oath to this pack!” “I swore an oath to see my daughter become Luna.
Nothing else matters.” James directed the knife at Elara. “Kill her, and the ties break. The triplets will be free to choose proper mates.” “Dad, no!” Celeste grabbed his arm. “I never asked you to kill anyone!” “You wanted to be Luna. This is what it takes.” He shoved her aside. “Weakness like that is why you needed my help in the first place.” The guardian, forgotten in the shock of James’s deception, suddenly roared. It had been circling them during the talk, and now it pounced. But instead of attacking Elara and the triplets, it jumped straight at James. “What—” James’s eyes went wide as huge jaws clamped down on his arm. “It’s supposed to attack them!” “The guardian tests the bond,” Elder Morrison said softly. “But it also punishes those who would break sacred ceremonies with violence.” James screamed as the thing dragged him across the ground. The rogues he’d brought started to back away. “Don’t just stand there!” Tobias yelled at them. “Attack!” “Attack what?” one rogue asked. “That thing will kill us all!” “The girl!” Tobias pointed at Elara. “Grab the girl!” Three rogues charged toward her, but the triplets moved faster. Still linked through their bond, they fought like a single deadly weapon.
Kael’s strength, Ronan’s speed, Darian’s strategy—all running through Elara and back to them. The rogues didn’t stand a chance. Meanwhile, the guardian had freed James, who was crawling away with his arm hanging at a strange angle. Blood pooled beneath him. “Celeste,” he gasped. “Help me.” But Celeste was looking at him with tears streaming down her face. “All this time, I thought I wanted to be Luna because I earned it. But you just wanted power. You used me.” “Everything I did was for you!” “No. Everything you did was for yourself.” She turned to Elara, her voice breaking. “I’m sorry. I never wanted anyone to die. I just… I just wanted to matter.” Before Elara could answer, Tobias grabbed Celeste from behind, pressing a silver blade to her throat. “Enough talking!” he snarled. “Break the bonds, or I kill her!” “Let her go,” Elara said strongly. “Your fight is with me.” “My fight is with anyone who stands in the way of the prophecy!” “What prophecy?” Darian demanded. Tobias’s eyes gleamed with madness. “The prophecy that says when a triple link forms, the old bloodlines will fall! Your family has ruled for too long, Blackwood. It’s time for new blood to take control!” “Whose blood?” Kael asked. “Yours?” “Mine? I’m nobody. But there are others, older families, who remember when the Blackwoods stole their land.” Tobias pressed the knife closer to Celeste’s throat. “They sent me to make sure this bonding never succeeds.” The watcher had been listening to every word. Suddenly, it let out another bone-shaking roar and charged straight at Tobias. “No!” Tobias shoved Celeste away and raised his knife, but the thing was too fast. Its claws caught him across the chest, sending him flying into a tree. He hit the tree with a sickening crack and slumped to the ground, motionless. The clearing fell silent except for James’s heavy breathing. “Is it over?” Ronan asked. The guardian turned its burning eyes on them one more time. Then, slowly, it nodded and began fading into red light that flowed back into the cracked bonding stone. “The test is complete,” Elder Morrison said softly. “The bond is true p>
But as the energy faded, Elara felt something wrong. The link with the triplets was still there, but it felt… different. Darker. “Elara?” Kael took her hand. “What’s wrong?” She looked down at their joined hands and gasped. Where their skin touched, black lines were spreading up her arm. “The guardian’s test,” she whispered. “I don’t think we passed it. I think it marked us.” Darian grabbed her other hand, and the black veins spread faster. “What does it mean?” Ronan demanded. Elder Morrison’s face had gone pale. “I need to check the ancient books. But if I’m right He swallowed hard. “The mark means your bond is strong enough to survive anything. But it also means something else is coming. Something that will test not just your bond, but your very souls.” As if called by his words, a new howl echoed through the forest. Not one person, but dozens. All coming their way. “What now?” Elara asked, watching the black lines continue to spread. “Now,” came a new voice from the darkness beyond the trees, “the real war begins p>
A figure stepped into the moonlight—tall, elegant, and completely unknown. Behind her came an army of dogs, their eyes glowing with the same red light as the guardian. “Who are you?” Alpha Marcus asked. The woman smiled, showing fangs that were too sharp, too long to be natural. “I am Lydia Ravenclaw, true Alpha of the Northern Territories. And I’ve come to claim what your family stole from mine a century ago.” Her eyes fixed on Elara and the spreading black marks. “Starting with your new Luna.” The woman raised her hand, and her army began to circle the space. The joining ceremony was over. The war for Elara’s soul was just starting.